The Thick-shelled river mussel (Unio crassus) is a red listed species classified as Endangered (EN) and is also considered within the Habitats Directive. The distribution in Sweden is fragmented and it is mostly occurring in the south eastern parts. We investigated the presence of Unio crassus in a section of the stream Storån, Östergötland County, from Falerum to the inflow into Lake Åkervristen. The environmental parameters investigated were water depth, bottom substrate, shading, water velocity and the slope over the water surface. In this thesis I have focused mainly on water depth and shading, comparing sites with and without mussels.

The thick shelled river mussel (Unio crassus) has a fragmented distribution in southern Sweden. It is a threatened and protected species. In both the Swedish red list and the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Unio crassus is classified as Endangered (EN). Causes for this classification are for instance differentiated bottom substrate and deterioration in water quality. In this study, habitat preferences of Unio crassus were investigated to assist in future restoration work.

The freshwater pearl mussel (Margaritifera margaritifera) is threatened throughout its range. There has been a substantial decline of the species and one major reason is habitat degradation. We investigated how the substrate composition of the bottom floor affects the regeneration of the mussel by analyzing data from the Västerbotten County Board?s inventory of the freshwater pearl mussel. The results implied that fine material such as fine sediment and sand might be detrimental to regeneration whereas gravel and boulders and in particular stone seem to be beneficial.

Freshwater environments are threatened worldwide, of which many of the species associatedwith freshwater. In 2014, 243 freshwater mussels were on the international Red List. One ofthem is the freshwater pearl mussel, Margaritifera margaritifera, which because of itscomplex life cycle can be counted as an indicator of whether a stream is worth protecting. It's since the early 1900's in decline throughout their range. Sweden is counted as a core area which is why we have not only a national but an international responsibility to conserve the species.

The freshwater pearl mussel (Margaritifera margaritifera) is a large freshwater mussel. Because of its sensitivity to human impact, such as eutrophication, acidification and alterations of hydromorphology, the species is considered as a robust indicator of stream water quality and biodiversity. Moreover, due to the species complex life cycle, including a larval stage on the gills of salmon and trout, and sensitivity of early life stages, regeneration is often used as an indicator. The freshwater pearl mussel is also used in the expert judgement of status classification of benthic invertebrates according to the European Water Framework Directive. The purpose of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of the freshwater pearl mussel as an indicator for Swedish streams. It was made with two types of association analyses.

The aim of this present study was to determine and evaluate whether the presence of brooktrout (Salvelinus fontinalis) and sediment load may be a threat against the reproduction anddistribution of freshwater pearl mussel (Margaritifera margaritifera) in a creek located innorthern Sweden. Freshwater pearl mussel is an endangered species and is dependent ofbrown trout (Salmo trutta) to reproduce. Therefore there are concerns of indirect effects onthe population of pearl mussel by competition between brown trout and brook trout. Ditchesfrom a nearby gravel road have been fixed to lower the sediment load into the creek. I tried toevaluate this action plan.

Nutrient enrichment is the main cause of the increasing eutrophication process in the Baltic Sea during last century. A prerequisite counteract this process the load of nutrients to the Sea must be investigated. The large contribution of nutrients to the Sea is caused by emission from the rivers within the drainage basin. For the total emission of nutrient into the Sea the retention process in the rivers has big influence. This process in the river system has been assumed as a not important part of the nutrient cycle.

The freshwater pearl mussel Margaritifera margaritifera is an endangered species. To survive, the young mussels demand a fairly coarse bottom material containing an appropriate quantity of organic substrate to survive without suffocating. In order to estimate if a bottom is suitable for juvenile mussels, samples of the sediment are needed. To obtain samples a sampling device called the Mulv collector has been developed within this project. Bottom samples were collected from 18 stations in 4 south Swedish streams, Vramsån, Kling-storpsbäcken, Brönnestadsån and Bräkneån.

AbstractThis research is about pre-school children?s conceptions of the river and the water environment. The aim of this study was to apply a new teaching method based on the outside learning, as well as to test the method and see if it works, i.e. if children get more knowledge this way compared to ordinary methods like teaching in the class-room which involves showing pictures and discussion of them.The main questions in this study were how children get new knowledge through outside learning and how effective this learning method is, i.e. how much they noticed and learned about the river and the water environment as a result of that outside observation.

The river Bivaröd is one of the river Helgeån tributaries which has the highest and the fastest increase in water colour. The reason behind this increase is unclear but several factors have been suggested to affect this pattern. In this work, I studied the role of land use, iron and precipitation for water colour increase in river Bivaröd for the period 1976 -2011. Data from a field study along with data from SRK for river Helgeån were used for the analyses. The results showed that both water colour and iron concentration increase and that there is a strong correlation between these two variables.

The survival of hatchery reared smolts is generally low after release. To get a better understanding of what variables affecting migration success, Atlantic salmon smolts were studied during their out-migration in the old river channel in the lower part of river Umeälven. The area consists of shifting habitat and complex structures which causes difficulties for smolt on their migration out to sea. The aim of this study was to try to determine the effects of feed restriction, fin conditions and different physical barriers in the river, on the migratory behavior of Atlantic salmon smolts in the river Umeälven. The river was divided into six different sections using acoustic receivers strategically deployed along the river. Two-year old hatchery-reared smolts (n=150), in three different weight classes, were tagged with acoustic transmitters.

In many regulated rivers, authorities have stocked hatchery salmon to compensate for loss of wild populations. However, hatchery fish have not always behaved as wild fish do, and stocking them has not always fully compensated for the loss of wild fish. The purpose of this study was to compare swimming behaviour in the river before spawning, the choice of spawning areas and body size between wild and hatchery-reared salmon in the river Klarälven. Salmon behaviour in the river before spawning was analyzed using radio telemetry. The salmon were caught at Forshaga power plant, radio-tagged and returned to Klarälven at Ekshärad, 107 km from the river?s mouth.

Vomb meadows is an area well knows for its rich bird life. During the 19:thcentury until mid 20:th century, the meadows were flooded annually in order toincrease the hay yield. The river Klingavälsån situated along the west side of themeadows, used to be a shallow river, meandering across the landscape. In the1940?s the river was straightened and made deeper.

The population of seatrout and salmon are threatened by over-fishing in the sea and loss of spawning and growing habitats caused by logging activities in many swedish rivers. The knowledge of the spawning migration and the habitat use of the seatrouts and salmon are limited. This study analyse the upstream spawning migration of Atlantic salmon and sea-running brown trouts from the lower part of the rivers to their spawning sites in the rivers Vindelälven and Piteälven. A knowledge about the distribution of spawning sites in the rivers will help these fish population in future restoration programs. In the fishladder at Norrfors in the river Umeälven were 29 sea trout and 20 salmon radio tagged and subsequently released and followed during their spawning migration upstream Vindelälven. They were tracked on their position in the river once a week.

The vegetation?s impact on erosion control is widely explored, even though research? results are scattered where it suggests a both positive and negative relationship between roots and erosion tendency. Research has measured the roots? impact on erosion by many different methods, hence the aim of this study is to offer a clearance of what factors play an important role in the choice of appropriate species controlling river bank erosion. I have therefore studied 17 articles concerning vegetation and erosion control, which were found in different databases such as: Web of Knowledge, Biological Sciences, Academic Search Elite and Google Scholar.